Rice: US seeks enforcement power against Iran
Iran-USA, Politics, 4/15/2006

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the UN Security Council's handling of the Iranian nuclear issue will be a test of the international community's credibility.

"This is going to be an issue of credibility for the international community. If the UN Security Council says, 'You must do these things and we'll assess in 30 days,' and Iran has not only not done those things, but has taken steps that are exactly the opposite of those that are demanded, then the Security Council is going to have to act," she told an interviewer April 13.

Less than two weeks after the council issued a unanimous presidential statement calling on Iran to suspend its nuclear research, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad announced that Iran had successfully enriched a small quantity of uranium. Enriched uranium can be used to fuel nuclear power plants or atomic bombs.

Rice dismissed Iran's declaration that it is only interested in enriching uranium for use in civil nuclear power facilities. The secretary said the international community must remain focused on the potential military applications of this technology.

"The world community does not want them to have that nuclear know-how and that's why nobody wants them to be able to enrich and reprocess on their territory, getting to the place that they can produce what we call a full-scale nuclear plant to be able to do this," she said.

Rice reiterated that President Bush has not taken any option off the table, including a military response, if Iran fails to comply with the demands of the international community.

"The Iranians need to know that the president has options," she said. But she added, "I wanted people to know that we are committed to a diplomatic course. And particularly, if the international community can speak with one voice and speak strongly... it's going to get the Iranians' attention."

She suggested that the next step for the Security Council when it reconvenes to discuss the issue April 28 could be to issue a Chapter 7 resolution.

A resolution passed under "Chapter 7" would give UN member countries rights to use force to achieve the stated goals.

"Now, what that means is that there are enforcement actions. For instance, you could have freezes of assets, political isolation, you could have a number of means to make it very difficult for the Iranians to continue this policy unless they're prepared to face real isolation," she said.

Previous Stories:
  Rice responds to Iran's announcement of uranium enrichment   (4/13/2006)
  US: Iran moving in the wrong direction   (4/12/2006)
  Rumsfeld dismisses reports of plans to attack Iran   (4/12/2006)

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